Toothbrush



Dec. 2,1947. A. BABE 2,431,861

TOOTHBRUSH Filed June 1, 1945 I've/afar Patented Dec. 2, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOOTHBRUSH Albert Babe, Chicago, 111.

Application June 1, 1945, Serial No. 597,061

1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to new and useful improvements in tooth brushes, and more particularly to a brush of this character constructed in a manner to more effectively clean the inner and outer surfaces of the teeth by a vertical movement of the brush.

It has been recognized that the most efiective way to clean teeth and stimulate and preserve the gums is to brush the teeth by an up-and-down motion, but in the conventional type of tooth brush the handle is not properly shaped to carry out this action.

Likewise, the brush head provided with the bristles is not properly shaped in the conventional type of tooth brush to enable the bristles to properly contact the surfaces of the teeth, particularly when brushing the inner surfaces of the teeth.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to overcome such defects in conventional types of tooth brushes and to provide a tooth brush for more effectively and efliciently accomplishing the aforesaid purposes.

A further object is to provide a device of this character of simple and practical construction, which at the same time is neat and attractive in appearance, inexpensive to manufacture and otherwise well adapted for the purposes for which the same is intended.

Other objects and advantages reside in the details of construction as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view.

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of the rear of the brush.

Figure 3 is a front elevational view.

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view of the brush head.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, wherein for the purpose of illustration I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of the invention, the numeral 5 designates the handle of the brush having a relatively short, transversely extending brush head 6 at its front end, the handle and brush head preferably being integrally molded or constructed.

The handle 5 projects from the rear edge of the brush head 6 and is curved downwardly adjacent the brush head and with the rear end of the handle substantially straight to offset the brush head above the longitudinal plane of the rear end of the handle, as will be apparent from an inspection of Figure 1 of the drawing.

The lower surface of the brush head 6 is transversely rounded, as indicated at I, and in which the bristles 8 are embedded to project radially with respect to the axis of the curved surface I, as more clearly illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawing, so that the outer ends of the bristles will be transversely curved with respect to the brush head 6.

Accordingly, in using the tooth brush, the bristles 8 may be placed against the surface of the teeth at either the inner or outer surfaces thereof and in a manner to effectively clean the teeth by an upward and downward motion of the brush.

When the inner surfaces of the teeth are being cleaned, the curvature of the handle 5 will permit the handle to extend upwardly or downwardly, as the case may be, without interference by the teeth of the upper or lower jaws.

In view of the foregoing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, it is believed that a clear understanding of the construction, operation and advantages of the device will be quite apparent to those skilled in the art. A more detailed description is accordingly deemed unnecessary,

It is to be understood, however, that even though I have herein shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, the same is susceptible to certain changes fully comprehended by the spirit of the invention as herein described and the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

A tooth brush comprising a head having a flat upper surface and divergent downwardly-extending side surfaces and a transversely-rounded lower surface, radially-projecting bristles embedded in said head through said lower surface, the outer ends of said bristles describing a curve concentric with said rounded lower surface, a handle formed integral with said head and projecting laterally from one of the divergent sides at a point midway the ends thereof, said handle being curved downwardly from said head for substantially one-third of its length to form an are which intersects the arc of curvature of the outer ends of said bristles and then is bent upwardly and merges into a straight portion for the remainder Number of its length. 1,639,880 ALBERT BABE. 1,647,453 2,066,772 REFERENCES CITED 5 2,114,947 The following references are of record in the 21140394 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date 10 171,048 1,323,042 Gardner Nov. 25, 1919 574,577

Name Date Butler Aug. 23, 1927 Krantz Nov. 1, 1927 Doyle Jan. 5, 1937 Warsaw Apr. 19, 1938 Loefller Dec. 13, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Canada July 25, 1916 France Apr. 2, 1924 

